𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙙 | •James Sirius Potter•

33. "A fox?"

𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩:

"It's been four days!" I yell in desperation at Sam. She tossed me a cube of ice as I rubbed my still purple hickey. "Are they supposed to stay this long or am I just unlucky?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "The longest mines had stayed is" she said rubbing her chin, "a week". My eyes widened and I looked at her. "A WEEK!" I shouted. She shushed me as she heard Lily outside the door.

I quickly tossed my scarf around my neck and grabbed a book. "Hello" greeted Lily as she closed the door behind her. "Hi" Sam and I replied lowly. Lily looked at me and gestured the scarf. "Are you alright, it's like 70 degrees outside" she said concerned.

"Yeah" I said coolly, "I'm just going out to leave this books at the library, and well, the library is a bit cold". I gestured the books and left.

I walked through the corridors trying to find a certain brunette. I turned to the corridor that led to the Entrance Hall and saw James joking around with Fred and Finn. I sped towards them and grabbed James by the arm mumbling a "Gotta talk to you".

We entered an almost deserted corridor and stopped walking. "What's wrong love?" he asked looking at my flushed face. I sighed and lightly unwrapped my Ravenclaw scarf, allowing James to see the purple bruise.

"Wow" he said breathless. "Don't 'wow'" I whispered-shouted, "is yours still there?". He nodded pridefully and lowered his shirt collar. His was a light red, almost pink and barley visible. "How is yours so light?!" I said panicking.

He chuckled and stroked my lose hair placing a strand of hair behind my ear. He lowered his lips and whispered, "I guess I have a gift". He backed up and saw my jaw practically on the floor. I punched him in the arm and turned to head to the library.

"Hey don't be mad at me, gorgeous" he cooed placing his arm around my waist, "It was your first time giving a hickey". I rolled my eyes and couldn't help the heat that crept out to my cheeks. We entered the library and I returned the used books and grabbed new ones.

"Longbottom your owl came by again" growled Madam Pince. "I'm sorry Madam Pince" I apologized a bit shyly, "it won't happen again". She grunted and gave me the books. I took them and hurried with James out of the Library.

"Nyx is causing problems huh?" James chuckled. "Yeah" I sighed, "whenever she gets early or late mail, she believes she will find me at the library". James and I laughed and cursed that bloody owl.

We walked to the owlery to find a very impatient Nyx flying around. Nyx was the family owl and I named her like that when little. "Come here Nyx" I called extending my arm out. The owl landed on my arm and I untied the letter attatched to its leg. James gave her some treats and Nyx flew up to go rest.

"What is it?" James asked coming towards me as I scanned the letter. "It's Teddy's" I said amuzed. Whenever Teddy wrote me it will arrive with the owl post. Whatever it is, it was important. I opened the letter and found it to be short.

𝘾𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚:
𝙈𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙩... 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪.
𝙄𝙏 𝙄𝙎 𝙐𝙍𝙂𝙀𝙉𝙏.

- 𝙏𝙚𝙙𝙙𝙮

I read the letter over and over again. Wednesday was today. What could be going on?. James read the letter and glanced at me. "Where is the usual place and when is the usual time?" he sounded jealous and was tense. I placed my hand on his arm.

"Remember when Teddy used to give extra Herbology lessons?" I told him and he nodded, "Well that's it". I tiptoed, kissed his cheek and brushed a hand through his hair. "There's nothing to be worried about, besides Teddy is like a brother" I reassured him and turned to leave.

He grabbed my hand and turned me around smashing his lips against mine. "Ok" he muttered breaking the kiss. I passed a hand over my flushed cheeks and exited the owlery. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and whispered, "I like it when I make you blush".

He threw me a wink and left to go find his friends. 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥 I thought. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥 another part of my mind said. I chuckled and headed to the Ravenclaw Tower.

I walked back to my dorm to find Lily and Sam in a deep hushed conversation. They stopped as soon as they acknowledged my presence. "Hello there" said Lily with a smirk.

"What happened?" I asked as I looked at their skeptical faces. "Lily told me that Albus told her that he overheard Fred and James talking about James and some hickey" Sam explained. I panicked but played the young card. "Lily do you know what a hickey is?" I asked her. To my surprise she giggled and nodded.

"How?" I asked surprised. How come Lily knows what a hickey is at a young age. I LEARNED WHAT A HICKEY WAS TWO DAYS AGO. "Sam told me" she said pointing at Sam who sat there innocently.
I looked at Sam and gestured a 'why!'.

"She asked" Sam shrugged. I groaned and Lily stood up taking off my scarf. "Had fun?" she teased. "Shut it" I muttered and went to my bed. The girls just laughed at me and I decided to take a nap.

I woke up at ten twenty. Lily was already asleep and Sam was mirroring Gina. I got out of bed, threw my quiddicth jersey and my scarf on and left to meet Teddy.

I managed to take ahold of the Invisibility cloak, as always, and went near the Whomping Willow. I was going to transform first and then hide the cloak, but I wasn't able to transform. "What the-" I muttered as I tried and nothing.

I huffed and threw the cloak on again. I went to the Whomping Willow and touched the branch that made the tree stop. I cross the dark tunnel and got to the Shrieking Shack. I went up the stairs and saw a wolf sitting near the window.

I took off the cloak and approached Teddy. "Hi Ted" I greeted him. He transformed back to the turquoise hair man. "Why didn't you transform?" he asked as he hugged me.

"I just couldn't transform" I told him disappointed. He looked confussed at me. "When was the last time you transformed?" he asked. "Umm since before Summer break, before the whole 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵" I answered.

He scratched his short beard. "Let me try this" he said stretching out his hand with his wand. I stood infront of him as he waved his wand. I felt myself sink, the whiskers coming out, my tail. But I felt... weird.

"A fox?" Teddy questioned. I was able to transform back by myself. "A what?!" I exclaimed taking out my wand. "Expecto Patronum!" and as soon as I said the incantation a silver fox came out of my wand.

"Your patronus changed" Teddy awed. I looked at the fox, "Wicked" I muttered. Teddy looked at me and asked, "Why did it change?".

"I don't know" I answered as the fox faded, "I've change since the last time I transformed". A fox patronus indicated that one was able to think outside the box, act quickly during situations and have an incredible amount of wisdom.

"We'll talk about this later" I told him, "what did you needed me here for?". His head snapped to look at me and his expression turned nervous.
"Oh yeah about that" he said scratching the back of his neck, "I may or may not be moving to Venecia, Italy".

"What" I gulped. Teddy, moving away. My big brother, moving away. "Are you serious?" I asked. He nodded.

"There's this position for an Alchemist there" he explained, "I've always really liked those stuff, and I really don't want to pass on this. But that means leaving you all here".

I ran and hugged him. It was for his best. He wanted this, it was his dream. A dream come true. "Do it" I sobbed into his chest, "take the job". I sniffled and smiled as he hugged me tightly.

"I love you so much" he told me with his voice cracking, "never change for anyone, stay like you are". I let out something between a sob and a laugh. "I love you too Teddy" I told him.

We broke apart from the hug and Teddy's expresion went from happy to startled. He pointed out to my neck and asked, "Is that a hickey?". I shoved him off and we both laughed.